Bargain with a cowgirl
by DaChocolat
Summary: Evergreen has agreed to take care of Asuka for a day and Bixlow is already thinking about how to involve Elfman in this. How will the teasing end this time? / Elfgreen / Mention of Albis obviously / Raijinshuu


**This was written for a precious someone for the Secret Santa event on tumblr like two years ago. She's roleplaying Asuka and is a big fan of the Connells in general and also the Raijinshuu (like myself hehe) so I remember that this was very pleasant and adorable to write. I hope I can make the one or other person smile with this! (:**

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"She loves that lil cowgirl, nyehe."

"Keep your voice down, Bix, or she'll hear you."

"What about it?"

"You know that she doesn't like being observed like this when she's revealing her soft side."

"Oh c'mon Freed baby, Ever won't-"

But at that very moment the Raijinshuu's female turned her head, gaze piercing her two male team mates and eyeing her in suspicion.

"What are you two whispering?"

"Nothing, Ever.", the two replied in unison what in turn only let the woman's suspicion grow. She knew her boys and she was well aware that they were talking about something she was involved in, most probably.

"Yea sure."

Albeit, the brunette decided to leave it at that as fingers tugged on her dress, wanting her attention to herself again. It was no less a person than Asuka, the adorable daughter of Alzack and Bisca.

Oh, every single one of them remembered how astonished they had been when they returned after seven years to see that these two were married and had a child by now. Cowboy and cowgirl had found one another, at last. Long time ago it wasn't all too difficult to notice that Bisca had a crush on the black-haired male, and that Alzack returned these particular feelings. They had merely been too awkward to mention anything, got embarrassed by their teasing guild mates about this matter. In the end, as one could see perfectly, everything worked out well. They were adorable to watch, to see that they are happy was something each and every of their comrades cherished. And just as adorable was their daughter, someone you just had to love.

The young female was currently spending her time with Evergreen mostly, as Freed was busy with some papers and Bixlow still thinking of a plan to get Elfman into this. Alzack and Bisca had their own work to accomplish - if anything crucial transpired then they were still available, sitting in the guild hall discussing calmly. However, at the moment it looked like such a case would not occur. Secretly - or perhaps not so secretly - Evergreen enjoyed spending time with the little girl a lot. The joyful smile on her lips was sufficient, enough for others to tell how she was feeling about the situation she found herself in.

"However, yes, it _is_ fairly obvious that she enjoys her company.", Freed cleared his throat, replying to his friend's previous statement once he felt safe again. His cyan shades rested on the papers, scanning letter by letter while he tugged a green strand of hair beside his ear, a frown becoming apparent on his features every once in a while.

"Yea."

The grin the seith mage wore told about the thoughts which lingered in the mind of his, attempting to create one of his infamous plans. One of those which would probably lead to him getting chased after, hit or something along these lines but Bixlow didn't care. It was not like his plans were seriously harming anyone after all; they were of a friendly teasing nature and would never do serious damage to anyone. To _something_ perhaps, but certainly not someone.

"Elfman should totally see this.", the tall man snickered towards the female at what he earned a warning side glance from his team captain who ended up getting ignored though.

 _"_ _Elfy, Elfy!"_

 _"_ _Yea, see see!"_

 _"_ _Totally!"_

The sound of Bixlow's babies echoing captured Ever's attention one more time.

"Alright, what did you say, Bixlow?", she glared at him while Asuka sat on her lap, little fingers playing with her light brown tresses.

"As I said before baby, it's nothin'."

Apparently her glare didn't have one single little impact on the male. Instead, he shot her his wide grin as he raised from his seat, walked past her and towards the bar leaving her alone with Asuka and Freed who was crinkling his nose, anticipating what was coming next.

"What did he say? _Freed_. I _know_ that you heard me."

In fact she had been able to hear one word - the name of a certain man. That was enough to tense her up even if she held the capability of hiding said tension brilliantly.

" _Freed_."

The anew sound of his name educed a low sigh from the jutsu shiki mage though he detached his gaze from the papers at last, leaning back and folding his arms across his chest in a typical manner.

"I didn't pay attention to his exact words, Ever."

A raised eyebrow was what he earned. And a raised eyebrow was what he would respond with.

Needless to say he heard exactly what Bixlow said earlier but he was not foolish enough to just spill it - Ever would freak out, connecting statements with actions. Bixlow was about to cause trouble again, he was sure and yet he wasn't doing anything against it. He was sort of unstoppable anyway.

"Freed "

The approached male was about to interrupt her calmly but that was not necessary any longer as another vox was accomplishing this job already.

"Can I braid your hair? Please? You have so beautiful hair. It's so fluffy! And Mama showed my how to braid!"

It was impossible to ignore this voice. This adorable little sweety. Blinking, Evergreen shifted her focus back to little Asuka who was smiling up her, hues glinting with happiness. Ever had to admit that the query that was directed at her threw her off the track as, admittedly, she wasn't used to these kind of inquiries. Nor was she used to people playing with her hair (even if she imagined one certain person doing it sometimes). Sure, her boys would ruffle it as they got the chance or surprise her with teasing gesture but this situation was a different one. She took the heard words into consideration, processing them, letting one, two moments pass by. Until she returned the smile and gave a small nod.

"Alright. But there's one condition."

Now it was Asuka's turn to look confused, but this expression didn't last very long. Lowering her head a little, Ever made sure that Freed would not hear what she was about to tell the little girl next. Whispering sounds resonated from the two females, making the rune mage narrow his eyes to slits for a brief moment as a short glance was thrown at him by his comrade. At last, Asuka chuckled even wider than before and nodded in return before she crawled off Ever's lap and waited for the other to shift her position once she had placed the cowgirl on the table. Up there it would be easier for her to work on Ever's long locks.

"Ready?"

"Ready!", Asuka exclaimed with glee, then reached for Evergreen's hair once again. This time with the aim to change her hair style.

"I'm sure you will make me look great."

Soft words out of the fairy's mouth, lips curled into a smile that was just as soft while Asuka proceeded to braid her thick hair as best as she could, the words encouraging her even more. Freed watched this scene out of the corner of his eyes, mien different from the outside but inwardly he was smiling as well. With her position shifted Evergreen's gaze was now directed directly at the girl's parents. They looked as happy as most of the time, apparently planning something. They hadn't been informed about what exactly Alzack and Bisca were doing but actually it was not relevant for the question as to whether they were willing to take care of Asuka or not. They would do it either way. Each and every one of them.

It was a rather peaceful day, something the brunette noticed just now. Yes… her attention got caught by the girl the entire time, only with a few exception which all involved her two team mates. She could hear little Asuka humming a song to herself quietly, sounding happy and Evergreen was capable of imagining her smile all too well, her own smile not vanishing. It was rare for her to smile this constantly, most of the time she didn't even realized when that happened. But it wasn't like it's something bad. If anything, it was delightful to witness. Very delightful.

The silence kept lingering for quite a while and whilst it did, Ever drifted off a little. Daydreaming, kind of. Thinking about different issues and scenarios, her eyes still sticking to the happy couple, to green and black hair. Her mind began to create own scenes soon enough, some she didn't really register until her train of thought was interrupted by the cheerful voice.

"Ready!"

"O-Oh, really?"

"Yes! You need a mirror, don't you?", the girl asked, wanting Ever to see what she had created.

"Yes, I will need a mirror.", the woman responded sounding a little confused for a moment before the confusion faded out of her voice slowly. "I'll get you one!" And with that, Asuka hopped off the table without hesitation and dashed off to get the needed item. Once she was out of sight Ever began to grumble to herself in a low tone, irritated about the thoughts she'd just had. Well… was irritated the right word to describe it? Probably not but—-

"Oh look at ya, Ever! Aren't ya beautiful? Isn't she beautiful, Elfy?"

The source of these words? Bixlow. Without doubt.

 _"_ _Beautiful, beautiful!"_

 _"_ _Elfy, tell her!"_

Brown orbs widened in shock and her head spun around to face the two men who were walking towards her. The seith mage had slung an arm around the other, making Freed wonder what on earth he had told the Strauss sibling that he came here with him now. Yes, of course it drew the rune mage's attention, too. It was not too late for Evergreen to observe how Efman's cheeks took on a light crimson shade. He was probably wondering why he came with the seith mage, too. It was true, however. Ever _did_ look great with her long hair braided. She always looked beautiful - in Elfman's opinion for sure - but this was something he had never seen before and he liked it. A lot. Still, that didn't change the awkwardness that arose.

"Y-Yes, you look beautiful."

Wow, how hard could it possibly be to voice those words? For Elfman it was very hard, without doubt. And he was about to add a _'like a man'_ but was able to restrain himself from doing so. He had spent a lot of time with the Raijinshuu's female by now, though usually it was just the two of them when his behavior altered from his common one. And not with so many people around, especially not such _teasing_ people.

"I prefer my usual hair style.", Evergreen answered rather drily and wanted to drag a strand of hair aside before she realized that it was not possible at the moment, due to her hair being tugged together. So she merely huffed a little, now not being able to keep a similar blush from crawling onto her cheeks.

"Nyehe. What's that, Ever? A blush? Freed it's a blush isn't it?", Bixlow cackled, his babies repeating his words as usual. Good opportunity for Ever to focus on something else. Really though, she was glad about that… That didn't make up for the situation in general, though.

"BIXLOW!"

"That's my name, baby."

Again, no huge impact. Elfman didn't even know what to say, his blush only increased at this point and if he attempted to talk, he'd probably just manage to stutter out some words.

"'onestly, ya just need to show us a kiss. Will ya?"

It got better and better - not. Well, it actually depended on the point of view. The seith mage was highly amused. Evergreen was not.

"You can have my heel in your stomach!"

That sounded hurtful, and it probably was but again Bixlow didn't take it very seriously - although he knew that Ever would keep her word.

"Aw, c'mon, baby! Ya know ya want to kiss 'im!"

Elfman felt the need to disappear.

"I think that, too!"

Suddenly, another vote. And it was coming from that girl who had vanished before in order to get a mirror - and she brought one. Elfman looked down at her in shock, so did Evergreen and Bixlow was just surprised before he grinned again and bent down to her, patting her cowboy hat.

"I know right? Asuka agrees with me, c'mon ya don't wanna disappoint her, do ya?"

Oh, how unfair. Puffing out her cheeks, Ever's fingers tingled with both - anger and embarrassment. She would not kiss Elfman! Not like this! Not so casually! Not here!

"I-It's still a tie!"

That was Elfman trying to save the situation but soon said attempt turned out to be a failure.

"I don't think so, I see someone grinnin' over there."

With those words being said, Bixlow nodded towards the table Freed was still sitting at. Indeed, he was wearing a tiny grin. Big enough to notice, however, and even though he wanted to hide it once Bixlow had mentioned him… he was too late as Elfman and Evergreen were staring at him already. Nonetheless, the rune mage merely gave a light shrug. "I didn't say anything."

True, Freed didn't but Ever _knew_ this little game all too well. She needed to do anything. God, that was just so embarrassing. Why did she always find herself in such all of a sudden she stilled as a particular thought crossed her mind. Yes! That would work!

"FREED! BIXLOW!"

The observation of all three men flinching lightly at her suddenly raised voice let a pleased smirk appear on her lips now while she waved towards Asuka, signalizing her to come closer. The young girl's eyes sparkled with curiosity as Evergreen glanced at her, leaning down a bit to whisper words into her ear once again.

"You remember our agreement, Asuka?"

Silence for one heartbeat before Asuka nodded quickly, smiling brightly.

"Well, they're being bad boys. You can go hunt the bandits now."

Evergreen concluded her words with a tiny wink and pointed towards Bixlow and Freed who were looking at her both with an indifferent mien. That altered fast however, as Asuka pulled out her toy gun and targeted the Raijinshuu males.

"Ten seconds to run!", she giggled before she tried to pull off a threatening facial expression. Bixlow and Freed apparently experienced a state of speechlessness, eyes glued to the little cowgirl, then to their team mate. Question marks clearly looming across their features, but all they received was a smug smile as Ever repeated the words Bixlow said a couple of moments earlier.

"You don't want to disappoint her, do you?"

The glance the green-haired male shot at Bixlow was unmistakable and for a second the seith mage looked like he was about to retort but in the end he showed a grin again and shrugged. "This 's not over yet."

A promise. And Freed rolled his eyes but even he smiled a moment later as he looked down at the waiting girl before he turned on his heels, ready to dash away. It was impossible to deny anything that was coming from Bisca and Altack's daughter, really.

"Well then ", Freed mumbled and then finally began to run - slowly mind you - alongside Bixlow. Less than two seconds passed and Ever released a kinda relieved sigh, followed by a shaking of her head before she froze once again. Right. Elfman was still there. And he was staring at her still too, sort of.

"…"

"…"

But the fact that they were alone was a comforting one. And a complacent one. Perhaps they would be able to make something out of this rather embarassing situation. Perhaps.

The smile Elfman showed her was a start for sure.


End file.
